Drowning the Poor

This book examines the ways in which water
development projects have altered the socioeconomic
structure and natural environment in southeastern
Anatolia, Turkey. Southeastern Anatolia Project
(GAP) entails the construction of 21 dams and 17
power plants on the Turkish portion of the Euphrates
and Tigris Rivers and their tributaries. The social
and environmental costs of this type of project are
very high. However, governments often ignore these
costs and continue to implement water development
projects. This model of water project serves the
organizational and regulatory power of the dominant
fraction of capital rather than either the interests
of subdominant or subordinate classes or
the general interest of society. The benefits
and burdens of large dams in Turkey are not
distributed equally. Rather, these local
populations are bearing a disproportionate share of
the negative social and
environmental externalities or consequences of the
project because of class, ethnicity, and gender
considerations, i.e., environmental injustice.

Autorentext

Feryal Turan received her PhD from Northeastern University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology. She is teaching at Ankara University. Her researches focus on big water development project and natural resource management in developing countries. She was engaged in a number of international and Turkish research projects.

Klappentext

This book examines the ways in which water development projects have altered the socioeconomic structure and natural environment in southeastern Anatolia, Turkey. Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) entails the construction of 21 dams and 17 power plants on the Turkish portion of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers and their tributaries. The social and environmental costs of this type of project are very high. However, governments often ignore these costs and continue to implement water development projects. This model of water project serves the organizational and regulatory power of the dominant fraction of capital rather than either the interests of subdominant or subordinate classes or the "general interest" of society. The benefits and burdens of large dams in Turkey are not distributed equally. Rather, these local populations are bearing a disproportionate share of the negative social and environmental "externalities" or consequences of the project because of class, ethnicity, and gender considerations, i.e., environmental injustice.